Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Business for a Utah company that makes bomb shelters boomed before Y2K and again after 9/11. The same business is booming again, and the company thinks it's because of the economic crisis.
According to Utah Shelter Systems, more people are interested in getting an underground dwelling designed to help families survive a biological or nuclear attack.
"Business has doubled this year; and in the last two weeks, we've seen a huge spike in inquiries and information and price schedules," said Paul Seyfried, part-owner of Utah Shelter Systems.
Could the economy have something to do with the surge in business? Seyfried says yes.
"Finances are kind of a moot point if your family is dead or dying," he said. "I think people are looking at the instability in the world right now and the shifting of power on the world stage."
Utah Shelter Systems has clients across the country, and Seyfried says many of them are professionals -- doctors and lawyers who order the dwellings because they're concerned about the possibility of a nuclear war.
A shelter starts out as a corrugated steel shell, but it ends up more like a home, complete with a kitchen, bunk beds and plenty of storage.
"We basically cap the ends and install the deck, the electrical systems and the air filtration system from Switzerland, and install the armored doors on the entrances," Seyfried explained.
A person could live in the shelter as long as there was enough water, which could be several months. Seyfried says that would be plenty of time to stay safe.
Those shelters are priced from $40,000 to $55,000. For more information about them, click the related link to the right of the story.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
